In the News (Sun 20 Jan 19)

Yet some recorded sieges were prolonged affairs going on for months and even years, and a few of them are important markers in Egyptian history: For example, the successful siege of Hatwaret (Avaris) by Ahmose I signalled the end of the Hyksos presence in Egypt.

When sieges were called for, depictions of such campaigns, such as those in Merenptah's campaign in Palestine recorded in the annals, display soldiers assaulting the fortifications by scaling ladders, sometimes on wheels and by infantry using axes to break into the wooden gates, all backed up by a hail of arrows from Egyptian archers.

Early siegewarfare was undoubtedly a costly affair from the standpoint of human life, though in some situations the king's may have looked upon this as simply a loss of resources.

It was designed to let web developers measure the performance of their code under duress, to see how it will stand up to load on the internet.

Those users place the webserver "under siege." The duration of the siege is measured in transactions, the sum of simulated users and the number of times each simulated user repeats the process of hitting the server.

obsidium, a siege), the "sitting down" of an army or military force before a fortified place for the purpose of taking it, either by direct military operations or by starving it into submission (see Fortification And Siegecraft).

A special form of coin is known as a "siege-piece." These are coins that were struck during a siege of a town when the ordinary mints were closed or their issues were not available.

A common shape for the siege pieces which were issued during the Great Rebellion was the lozenge.

A siege tower could also be used: a substantial structure built as high, or higher than the walls, it allowed the attackers to fire down upon the defenders and also advance troops to the wall with less danger than using ladders.

The Siege of Paris lasting from September 19, 1870 – January 28, 1871 brought about French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and led to the establishment of the German Empire.

But the German high command, headed by the king of Prussia, turned down the proposal on the insistence of General von Blumenthal, who commanded the siege, on the grounds that a bombardment would affect civilians, violate the rules of engagement, and turn the opinion of third parties against the Germans.

Field-Marshal Helmuth von Moltke and General Leonhard, Count von Blumenthal who commanded the siege (seen in the illustration on this page peeping behind Bismarck's right shoulder) were primarily concerned with a methodical siege that would destroy the detached forts around the city and slowly strangle the defending forces with a minimum of German casualties.

After a siege of two and a half days, the Russian government raided the building with the assistance of Knockout gas is a fictional substance used in certain types of stories.

Moscow theatre siege: Some medical experts now believe that the Moscow hostages and terrorists were gassed with a military incapacitating agent such as BZ or a similar substance.

Moscow theatre siege: The Chechen rebels holding hundreds of hostages in a Moscow theater shot and killed one captive and said they were ready to die for their cause, warning that thousands more of their comrades were "keen on dying."

For State parties that are signatories to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 4 permits States to derogate from certain rights guaranteed by the ICCPR in "time of public emergency".

A state of emergency was declared in 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War, though Ireland was not a participant, which was not lifted until 1972, only to be succeeded by a second state of emergency to deal with the Troubles in Northern Ireland, which lasted until the IRA ceasefire in 1994.

In Spain there are three degrees of state of emergency (estado de emergencia in Spanish): alerta (alert), excepción (exception[al circumstance]) and sitio (siege).

www.launchbase.org /encyclopedia/State_of_siege (2101 words)

Siege Tank(Site not responding. Last check: )

Siege Tanks have an Explosive Attack (50% damage to Small Units 75% damage to Medium Units, and full damage to Large units).

Siege Tanks have splash damage (Such as Catapults in Warcraft 2) that will damage both your units as well as any enemy units, so you want to be careful to keep your troops away from targets your tanks are firing on or your own troops will be hit.

When you are on lower ground, your Siege Tanks can't fire on units on higher ground on their own, but if you use a flyer of some kind over the high ground, it will allow your Siege Tanks to see and fire at targets on high Ground.

The degree of "effectiveness" of the siege differs from place to place, depending on the topography and the number of alternative routes residents manage to create to avoid the checkpoints.

The level of IDF enforcement of the siege in the various areas is affected by another variable: the IDF is generally stricter in blocking access roads to villages near Israeli settlements than roads in areas where settlers do not live.

Even if the siege contributes to the safety of IDF soldiers and civilians — which some senior defense officials themselves question — the appalling human consequences make the siege a classic example of collective punishment, which is prohibited by both Israeli and international law.

The capture of an enemy-controlled city is a legitimate military aim, and armycommanders have often seen siege as less costly than the alternativefighting house to house, street by street.

Historically, a key element of siegewarfare has been to reduce a towns defenses and force its surrender by cutting off its vital supplies and leaving the population, civilian and military alike, to starve.

Though the word siege is never mentioned as a term of law, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocols impose restrictions on warfare that, if enforced, would effectively make siege illegal.

In the film, which is a part of the NOVA series Secrets of Lost Empires, a team of timber framers and other specialists design, build, and fire a pair of trebuchets, a devastating engine of war popular in the Middle Ages.

Having bought the Dungeon Siege IP from Microsoft earlier in 2006, new owners 2K Games have wasted little time in making their multi-platform mark on the series with the upcoming release of the amusingly subtitled Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony for PSP.

Linking Broken World with Dungeon Siege II and Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony, players are able to play through the original DS2 adventure with their new expanded character, as well as unlock crossover items from within the forthcoming PSP story.

What Dungeon Siege II: Broken World does do, is establish its new presence under the 2K Games banner - something that the company is sure to persevere with - so don't be surprised to see Dungeon Siege III announced in the too distant future.